Question: Who Are You? Why Buddha Stayed Silent: A Deeper Insight Buddhism explained.
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Today's podcast we like to talk more aboutto talk more about why the Buddha refused to get involved in the issue of whether there is or is not a self.
The first point is that the Buddha's teaching was strategic, aimed at leading to a specific goal: total freedom in the minds of his listeners. The second point is that, as part of this larger strategy, the Buddha had strategic reasons for putting questions of the existence or non-existence of the self aside.
Part of his teaching strategy was to divide questions into four types, based on how they should be best approached for the purpose of putting an end to suffering and stress [Anguttara Nikaya AN 4.42]. The first type includes those that deserve a categorical answer: in other words, a straight "yes"" or "no," "this" or "that," with no exceptions. The second type includes questions that deserve an analytical answer, in which the Buddha would reanalyze the question before answering it. The third type includes questions that deserve a counter-question. In other words, he would question the questioner before answering the original question. And the fourth type includes questions that deserve to be put aside as useless - or even harmful - in the quest to put an end to suffering. And, as I said, the questions, "Is there a self? Is there no self?" are ones he put aside.